Gardener News May 2017

TAKE ONE May, 2017

Gardener News Serving the Agricultural, Gardening and Landscaping Communities GARDENERNEWS.COM

TAKE ONE No. 169

Understanding New Jersey USDA Plant Hardiness Map

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2012. Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If you live in New Jersey and you want your garden and landscape to be a success, you need to know the growing zone that covers your region. New Jersey is divided into four different planting zones, 6a, 6b, 7a and 7b.

Plant hardiness zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature during a 30-year period in the past, not the lowest temperature that has ever occurred in the past or might occur in the future.

Gardeners should keep that in mind when selecting plants, especially if they choose to “push” their hardiness zone by growing plants not rated for their zone. In addition, although this edition of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is drawn in the most detailed scale to date, there might still be microclimates that are too small to show up on the map.

Microclimates, which are fine-scale climate variations, can be small heat islands—such as those caused by blacktop and concrete—or cool spots caused by small hills and valleys. Individual gardens also may have very localized microclimates. Your entire yard could be somewhat warmer or cooler than the surrounding area because it is sheltered or exposed.

You also could have pockets within your garden that are warmer or cooler than the general zone for your area or for the rest of your yard, such as a sheltered area in

front of a south-facing wall or a low spot where cold air pools first. No hardiness zone map can take the place of the detailed knowledge that gardeners pick up about their own gardens through hands-on experience.

Many species of plants gradually acquire cold hardiness in the fall when they experience shorter days and cooler temperatures.

This hardiness is normally lost gradually in late-winter as temperatures warm and days become longer.

A bout of extremely cold weather early in the fall may injure plants even though the temperatures may not reach the average lowest temperature for your zone.

Similarly, exceptionally warm weather in midwinter followed by a sharp change to seasonably cold weather may cause injury to plants as well. Such factors are not taken into account in the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. All Plant Hardiness Zone Maps are just guides. They are based on the average lowest temperatures, not the lowest ever. Growing plants at the extreme of the coldest zone where they are adapted means that they could experience a year with a rare, extreme cold snap that lasts just a day or two, and plants that have thrived happily for several years could be lost.

Gardeners need to keep that in mind and understand that past weather records cannot be a guarantee for future variation in weather.

(Continued on page 22)

2 May, 2017

G A R D E N C E N T E R D I R E C T O R Y GardenerNews.com

Magnificant Flowers in All Colors

Vegetable Garden Headquarters Mother’s Day Flowers

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May, 2017 3

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4 May, 2017 How many times have you heard an acquaintance talk about an exceptional garden in their neighborhood or someone with magnificent plantings around their home and exclaim how that person has a “green thumb”? Everything they touch flourishes because they “just know how to grow things.”

Some people like to wallow in their inability to do something naturally. In this case, I’m speaking only about home projects by do-ityourselfers, not the professional landscapers who train for years.

That’s where the proverbial “green thumb” comes into play.

It’s as if you have within your gene pool a chromosome that affords this innate talent to become instantly horticulturally accomplished.

But that’s not really the case.

It is true that growing things takes skill and common sense.

But, like anything else we master, it is first learned, then practiced, then applied. Certain information is essential to be successful at anything, such as using a computer, driving a car, or making tasty pancakes.

To perform well takes some learning.

GardenerNews.com NJ Dept. of Agriculture

By Douglas H. Fisher Secretary of Agriculture

Green Thumb?

Somewhere along the line, the person you point to who can grow just about anything was either informed by someone (maybe with a farming background ) who handed down a lot of information, or that person hit the books, “dug in,” and got the schooling necessary to secure the desired results.

All living organisms have basic needs and requirements in order to flourish. Of course, life is not fair, so one individual may have advantages that are not afforded easily to another.

You may be living on a piece of ground that formerly housed a dairy farm, for instance. Since cow pastures are naturally well fertilized by manure, plants usually do well in the nutrientrich soil. That is not to say that other less-endowed parcels cannot be successful.

I know growers who are

fabulous at bringing to market the very best of nature’s offerings and I can tell you this: These farmers are constantly studying, analyzing, adapting and nurturing the conditions for what they produce. It does not come naturally in their thumb!

I mention all this because anyone reading this can become good at gardening. I am sure of this. It takes, however, some time and effort to acquire the necessary skills to be triumphant.

Want to grow a terrarium? You just can’t pour potting soil in a container and expect anything meaningful to develop. Did you incorporate good drainage? Do the plants you use need a lot of sun or very little?

How about the garden you wanted to plant outside? Did you find out the pH of the soil first? Do you know what elements are lacking? Find out

Look Who’s Reading the Gardener News!

It’s in the news

Tom Castronovo/Photo

Gail Woolcott, director of operations for the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association (NJLCA), looks over the April Gardener News at a landscape industry meeting in Bergen County. Woolcott is the first female director of operations in the association’s 51-year history.

The NJLCA is a proven resource to the landscape contractor, green industry service provider and supplier, as well as to the consumer. The association is a community of green industry professionals who are dedicated to advancing the integrity, proficiency and continued growth of the landscape industry. They do this through education, training and legislative advocacy.

the answers and you will be on your way. Any space you are contemplating, whether indoor or outside, has potential.

Once you have provided the right environment, either natural or altered, things can grow successfully just about anywhere. After a while you will get the hang of it.

It’s now May and you are probably starting your outside garden and planting your ornamentals around the yard.

Each year, you have had some success and some failure. This year, take an extra added effort and really learn all you can about the plants you bring home and the conditions that make them thrive.

New Jersey’s garden centers have knowledgeable staff with years of experience and knowledge ready and waiting to help you learn gardening.

Explain what you are attempting and I can just about promise it will come to fruition.

Another place to gain information is your local farmer or nursery. Farmers are some of the most giving people on Earth, and for the most part love to share what they know with anyone who will listen.

Every time I travel on our Garden State farms, I walk away with a new tip or revelation on what it takes to make my garden grow. Ask questions, be receptive, and with the resources at hand, you too will become a natural who knows what they are doing.

Happy Gardening!

Editor’s Note: Douglas H. Fisher is New Jersey’s Secretary of Agriculture. He is the department’s executive officer, secretary to the State Board of Agriculture and a member of the Governor’s cabinet. Secretary Fisher fulfills executive, management and administrative duties prescribed by law, executive order or gubernatorial direction. He can be reached at 609.292.3976.

For more info, please visit: http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture

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May, 2017 5

Support NJ Agriculture JERSEY GROWN

Nursery Stock JERSEY GROWN

Sunflower Birdseed JERSEY GROWN

Firewood

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Wood Birdhouses & Bird Feeders

Governor Chris Christie Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher

jerseygrown.nj.gov

6 May, 2017

RUTGERS NJAES/RCE

Water Resources Program Wins Three Awards at the New Jersey ASLA 2017 Conference The Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program was honored with three Merit Awards from the New Jersey American Society of Landscape Architects this spring. Awardwinning projects included the Green Infrastructure Guidance Manual for New Jersey, the Woodbridge Township Floodplain Restoration Plan, and the McKeown Elementary School Rain Garden Partnership Project.

The Green Infrastructure Guidance Manual for New Jersey helps make stormwater management available to a wide range of audiences. It is a multi-chapter document developed for New Jersey communities with combined sewer systems (CSS) and municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) to begin understanding green infrastructure as a strategy for stormwater management.

The detailed guidance provides users with information on the fundamental function and benefits of select green infrastructure practices, along with corresponding technical design standards.

It describes the design process for a green infrastructure practice from start to finish, guiding the user through each step from site identification to implementation.

The goal of this manual is to inform planning and design professionals, municipal engineers and officials, community groups, and inspired residents who are interested in installing green infrastructure practices to reduce negative impacts resulting from stormwater runoff.

The team working on the project included: Christopher C. Obropta, associate extension specialist and associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences; Jeremiah Bergstrom, senior research project manager; and Michelle Hartmann, program associate.

The Woodbridge Township Floodplain Restoration Plan was developed in partnership with Woodbridge Township, landscape architects and ecologists at Rutgers Cooperative Extension to address flooding challenges in 200 properties in five flood-prone residential neighborhoods.

Municipalities across New Jersey face a range of challenges as a result of flooding, which has affected at least 549 of the state’s 565 municipalities. Recent storms, including Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, have devastated communities across the state, with an estimated $29.4 billion in damages and 30,000 properties damaged or destroyed in Superstorm Sandy alone. Flooding is particularly challenging for New Jersey, which has the highest population density and the greatest percent of impervious surface in the country.

To begin addressing these challenges, Woodbridge Township and the Rutgers Cooperative Extension specialists developed floodplain restoration and maintenance plans with a focus on increasing stormwater infiltration, reducing biweekly mowing requirements, and developing greater landscape connections. The restoration plan includes trail development, wildlife habitat, and invasive species management that is integrated with stormwater management and flood storage.

The team that developed the plan included: Brooke Maslo, assistant research professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources and wildlife and research specialist; Jeremiah Bergstrom; Tekla Pontius-Courtney, unit administrator and specialist; Marta Goraczniak (SEBS’17) senior in the Department of Landscape Architecture; and Woodbridge Township.

The McKeown Elementary School Rain Garden Partnership Project was developed by the RCE Water Resources Program and the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group. Together, one of the largest rain gardens (3,865 square feet) was installed at the McKeown Elementary School with all students participating in the implementation phases of this project.

Prior to the installation, stormwater would drip from the school gutters and flood the teacher’s back parking lot while picking up nonpoint source pollution into the nearby catch basin, discharging unfiltered in the upper portion of the Paulins Kill. The rain garden was installed with donations from the larger community including, Land Power LLC, Cerbo’s Nursery, and Hampton Township. This rain garden will capture, treat, and infiltrate over 500,000 gallons of stormwater runoff annually.

The team that developed the project included: Christopher C. Obropta; Jeremiah Bergstrom; Christopher Perez, program associate; and the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group.

GardenerNews.com

From the Director’s Desk

Rutgers Outreach Provided by Larry S. Katz, Ph.D. Director

Horticultural Therapy and the People-Plant Connection It was about 18 years ago that a Rutgers graduate, Brian Ducey, announced that, at last, he clearly understood what sets Horticultural Therapy (HT) apart from other people-plant activities.

“Horticulture”, he said “is people growing plants. Horticultural Therapy is plants growing people.”

He was right, of course, and the magic of the people-plant connection has never shown more potential and promise than it does today. The real excitement is that we are finally learning to recognize and utilize plants and the natural environment for improved mental and physiological health, much as our knowledge of the plant’s role in medicine and nutrition has led to improved physical health.

We are now able to prescribe horticulture for cognitive and psycho-social improvement. “Goals” are what make HT special. Vocational, therapeutic and social goals can all be addressed using plants and plant-related activities. Since they are so adaptable and diverse, plants can be available yearround to bring the unique benefits to the participant in a structured HT program.

Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) has one of the few HT accredited degree and certificate programs in the nation. HT classes are filled with registrants coming from a wide assortment of majors. HT has crossover appeal to the people sciences (psychology, sociology) the green sciences, nutrition, exercise science, and many other disciplines.

From a humble start in 1996 when Rutgers agricultural extension agent Joel Flagler delivered the first HT classes at SEBS, there has been a marked increase in interest in the people-plant connection and human issues in horticulture. The Rutgers HT Certificate program, in particular, attracts individuals from diverse backgrounds including alumni, veterans and career-changers.

Rutgers Master Gardeners, trained through Cooperative Extension, are assisting in the delivery of many horticultural therapy programs throughout the state. These programs are now commonplace in nursing homes, hospitals, special service school districts, corrections, and many facilities serving individuals with special needs.

One of the key programmatic theme areas for the Rutgers Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources is “Horticulture for the Health of It.” This acknowledges the many layers of benefits at hand for people who participate in growing food and ornamental plants. It also speaks to the many requests for new community, therapy and school gardens coming to Extension offices statewide.

Research is what funders and the health care community understand and appreciate; anecdotal evidence is not enough. An increasingly large body of research has become available, with publications in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals.

The data supports what has been observed for thousands of years: people prefer plants. People prefer settings that include plants. People are more comfortable and productive around plants.

People everywhere relate to plants, as part of the overall milieu of human experience. It is a common denominator, crossing all ethnic and cultural lines. People of all ages and abilities can participate in growing plants, and adaptive-enabling tools and devices help make the horticultural experience enjoyable in the presence of physical deficits and challenges. It is this universal appreciation for plants that lends them for use in therapy and rehabilitation.

One of the most exciting new developments has been the partnership with the Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Lyons, N.J. This 350-acre facility serves veterans of all ages with a wide array of capabilities and needs. Our first HT program started there in 2015 in the secure unit known as Sunshine City, serving veterans with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Several other programs quickly followed, including a popular one in the Community Living Center, the hospice unit called Promise House, and the Domiciliary—a residential treatment program for homeless veterans.

The Rutgers HT interns who created these programs are Althea MacDonald, Gary Altman, and Linda Brown-Kuhn. Joel Flagler, Rutgers agricultural agent and professor of HT, has provided supervision and direction, with ongoing support from Dr. Don Kobayashi, Chair of the SEBS Department of Plant Biology.

A singular opportunity arose last year when care was needed for a large indoor atrium filled with tropical trees and plantings. The Rutgers interns use this peaceful oasis garden year-round to teach hands-on horticultural skills to the veterans in that unit, providing career-readiness and awareness.

In fall 2016, the Rutgers interns were invited to present at national conferences in Dallas and Los Angeles for the VA Arts, Health, and Well-Being Project being implemented at veterans medical facilities throughout the country.

Another recognition for the Rutgers program focused on Amanda Rodriguez-Mammas, a 2016 graduate. She was awarded the prestigious Linda Ciccantelli Memorial Scholarship from the MidAtlantic Horticultural Therapy Network. Amanda contributed greatly to the HT program at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center on campus and also completed an internship at New York University Langone Medical Center Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation.

Editor’s Note: Joel Flagler is the Rutgers Agricultural Extension Agent for Bergen County, and the SEBS Professor of Horticultural Therapy. He has been a Registered Horticultural Therapist for 33 years. You can contact him at Flagler@aesop.rutgers.edu.

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RUTGERS NJAES/RCE

May, 2017 7

Well-Mannered Wisterias Some plants instantly instill fear in both gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Bamboo certainly falls within this category, with Wisteria in hot pursuit.

These plants share the ability to escape cultivation, especially when maintenance levels become less than optimal. As with Bamboo, not all Wisteria species are equally aggressive. In fact, Wisteria frutescens and Wisteria macrostachya are not only wellmannered, but are native to North America and should be considered more frequently for New Jersey gardens.

Wisteria is a member of the Pea Family, or Fabaceae, containing between five and eight species that are distributed throughout Eastern North America and Eastern Asia. The genus name was first published in 1818 by the English botanist and zoologist Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) with his book The Genera of North American Plants. Nuttall claimed that he

named the genus in honor of Dr. Caspar Wistar (1761–1818), the late professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nuttall’s version of the genus name was also not the first attempt to name the genus. The Swedish botanist and physician, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) originally described and named the plant as Glycine frutescens in 1753. The species epithet is from the Latin Frutex for woody.

The genus Glycine includes soybeans, so it only makes sense that Linnaeus would name this plant as the woody relative.

In 1823, the French clergyman and botanist Jean Poiret (1755-1834) decided that this plant and the plant that Nuttall called Wisteria speciosa were in fact one in the same and he renamed it Wisteria frutescens.

Commonly called the American Wisteria, Wisteria frutescens was well worth the tribulations over the name, since it is a great garden plant. Native from Texas to Iowa and east, the pea-like flowers typically appear tightly compressed in numbers of 30 to 65 along a five- to

seven-inch-long central stem – a flower structure that is defined as a raceme.

The vines climb counterclockwise up a support when viewed from above and grow to a manageable size of 15 to 25 feet flowering freely at an early age. The flowers are faintly scented and vary in color, but blue-violet is typical, although white and purple selections are ample. The most common cultivar is “Amethyst Falls,” which was found in Oconee County, S.C. True to the name, the flowers are amethyst purple and hang attractively from the plant, while the cultivar “Nivea” sports white flowers.

Wisteria macrostachys, or Kentucky Wisteria, is native from Texas to Illinois, including Kentucky, and was originally considered a variety of Wisteria frutescens, before gaining species status. The plant was first described in 1838 by the famed botanical team Asa Gray (1810-1888) and his mentor and friend John Torrey (17961873). The epithet means “long spikes” and refers to the longer, eight to 10-inch flower racemes

In Memoriam David A. Meirs, alumnus and former chair of the Rutgers University Board for Equine Advancement, passed away on March 27, 2017. He was 87. Services were held on April 1 at the Crosswicks Meeting House, Chesterfield, N.J. A Rutgers alumnus, Meirs was heavily involved in the growth and development of Rutgers’ equine science program and the Rutgers Equine Science Center. He was one of the founding board members of the Rutgers Equine Advisory Board, later to be renamed as the Rutgers University Board for Equine Advancement. Among his many university-related honors, Meirs received the George H. Cook Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.

He is survived by his wife, Caroline W. Meirs; his children, David A. Meirs III, Richard S. Meirs, and MaryAnn Meirs; 15 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions can be made in Meirs’ name to Rutgers University Foundation Equine Science Center, Administrative Services Building II, 57 US Hwy 1, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901, Attn: Dr. Karyn Malinowski, or Standardbred Retirement Foundation, 353 Sweetmans Lane, Millstone Twp., N.J. 08535, or Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association Trotpac, 64 Business Rt. 33, Manalapan, N.J. 07726.

Rutgers Master Gardeners to Offer Tips at Ocean County Library Branches Stafford Branch, 129 N. Main St., 609-597-3381 Container Flower Gardening, Monday, May 8, 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Landscaping Your Yard, Monday, May 22, 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Waretown Branch, 112 Main St., 609-693-5133 Growing Vegetables in Containers, Wednesday, May 10, 2 p.m.

Pt. Pleasant Beach Branch, 710 McLean Ave., 732-892-4575 Seashore Gardening, Saturday, May 13, 11 a.m.

These programs are free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register call the branches or visit www.theoceancountylibrary.org and click “Calendar of Events.

that contain clusters of 70 to 80 flowers.

Similar to its cousin, the vines grow to 20 to 25 feet and are amply covered with lightly scented blue to pale violet flowers. “Blue Moon” is a selection with attractive, lightblue flowers.

Both species are native to moist woodlands, stream banks and pond sides, but they are perfectly at home in average garden soil. Since they are members of the Fabaceae, they fix their own nitrogen, allowing them to tolerate lower fertility soils. In fact, the addition of nitrogen often reduces flowering.

They bloom freely from an early age, with the flowers opening concurrently with the foliage in mid-May, although the foliage does not impact the floral display in the least.

Once the vines reach the desired height, a light pruning in mid-summer, following by a light trim in late-winter is beneficial.

Care should be taken when pruning, since the flowers appear from short spurs on two-year-old and older wood. The foliage also serves as a host for the

larva of Silver-Spotted Skipper, which is native to much of North America, and Long Tail Skipper found throughout the south.

Aside from removing the occasional seedling from the base of the plant, light pruning and a little training, both of these Wisteria species provide a charming and well-mannered addition to arbors and garden supports, assuaging any fears that there is a potential monster in our midst.

Editor’s Note: Bruce Crawford is a lover of plants since birth; is the managing director of the Rutgers Gardens, a 180-acre outdoor teaching classroom, horticultural research facility and arboretum; an adjunct professor in Landscape Architecture at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; regularly participates in the Rutgers – Continuing Education Program; and the immediate pastpresident of the Garden State Gardens Consortium. He can be reached at (732) 932-8451. For more information, please visit www.rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu

RUTGERS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION PHONE DIRECTORY Atlantic County Phone: 609-625-0056 Bergen County Phone: 201-336-6780 Burlington County Phone: 609-265-5050 Camden County Phone: 856 216 7130 Cape May County Phone: 609-465-5115 Cumberland County Phone: 856-451-2800 Essex County Phone: 973-228-2210 Gloucester County Phone: 856-307-6450 Hudson County Phone: 201-915-1399 Hunterdon County Phone: 908-788-1339 Mercer County Phone: 609-989-6830

Middlesex County Phone: 732-398-5260 Monmouth County Phone: 732-431-7260 Morris County Phone: 973-285-8300 Ocean County Phone:732-349-1246 Passaic County Phone: 973-305-5740 Salem County Phone: 856-769-0090 Somerset County Phone: 908-526-6293 Sussex County Phone: 973-948-3040 Union County Phone: 908-654-9854 Warren County Phone: 908-475-6505

8 May, 2017

GardenerNews.com

A Highly Respected Pioneer and Fan of the N.J. Green Industry Everyone that knew her, loved her MaryLou DesChamps, 81, of Branchburg, N.J., passed away peacefully on Friday, March 31, 2017. She was born in Morristown, N.J., to Lillian and Cecil Stichweh on May 13, 1935.

In 1954, she married Paul L. DesChamps and resided in Boonton Township for many years before moving to Branchburg in 1980.

MaryLou was the President and CEO of Storr Tractor Company in Branchburg and led operations of the company since 1990. Under her leadership, Storr Tractor Company was able to generate partnerships with Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, the Great Lawn at Central Park, The Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx Zoo, Liberty State Park, and MetLife Stadium, to name a few.

MaryLou wore many hats: She was a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, companion, friend and a successful businesswoman. She was active in community affairs back in Boonton Township, joining the women’s Auxiliary Police while her husband served in the Boonton Township Police Department.

She was President of the Parent Teachers Association for the elementary school in Boonton Township, had been a member of the Irrigation Association of New Jersey for nearly 50 years and was an honorary Eastern Amputee Golf Association Life Member. Her determination and executive decisionmaking at Storr Tractor Company had earned her many awards, which included: being named one of the top 500 women-owned businesses in Working Woman Magazine in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001; recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irrigation Association of New Jersey; and in her tenure, Storr Tractor was named the top Tom Castronovo/Photo distributor in the United States.

Other accolades include being named to the New Jersey Turfgrass Association’s Hall of Fame, Otterbine Company’s Hall of Fame, Outstanding Woman’s Award in the field of Business/Management in 2002, a 2009 Inductee into the Eastern Amputee Golf Association (EAGA) Hall of Fame, Spirit of Somerset Award for her donation of a fleet of Toro Utility Vehicles to the World Trade 9/11 Disaster to transport people and food in the rescue and recovery efforts in 2001.

MaryLou had donated the Toro equipment that the balloons were tethered to in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for over 15 years.

In the December 2004 edition of the Gardener News, MaryLou was featured on the front cover teaching the readers on how to cope with winter using Toro snowblowers. In 2007, she received an award from the Professional Landscape Alliance of New Jersey for her “Tremendous Service to the Landscape Industry.”

In the August 2016 edition of the Gardener News, she received this paper’s first annual “Landscape Beautification of the Year” award for the way she had her Storr Tractor property meticulously maintained in Branchburg, Somerset County, N.J.. MaryLou was also saluted for taking personal pride in helping beautify the Garden State with her “green” commercial property, and for the promotion of the gardening experience.

In her spare time, she loved to be outdoors, whether it was feeding her koi fish in her backyard pond, driving along the mountainside, or bird-watching. She was a seasoned traveler, going to Hawaii, Costa Rica, Mexico, Europe, and Puerto Rico. She loved to play golf and, in honor of her late husband, Paul, she held an annual Golf Classic in his name at Copper Hill Country Club to raise proceeds for the Paul Des Champs Scholarship Award with the Eastern Amputee Golf Association. It was set up in 1992 and had helped countless students with their college educations.

She also loved to spend time with her family, especially her beloved daughter Paulette, and dear granddaughter Danielle. As a family together, they enjoyed their yearly trips to New York City at Christmastime, going to games at Yankee Stadium, taking various summer vacations, and spending all holidays together.

She is preceded in death by her beloved grandparents and parents; her loving husband Paul of 36 years (1990); her loving daughter, Lise Ann DesChamps (2011); her brother Charles Markle; her sister Elizabeth Helstoski; and her nephew Henry Helstoski, Jr. Surviving are her loving companion, Paul Strani of Bridgewater, N.J.; her beloved daughter, Paulette, and husband Peter Tartaglia of Butler, N.J.; her cherished granddaughter, Danielle, and husband Michael Centalonza of Randolph, N.J.; her brother, Cecil and nephew Brian Stichweh, of Boonton, N.J.; and many wonderful family and friends.

A viewing was held on Thursday, April 6, 2017 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at the Branchburg Funeral Home 910 US Highway 202 South, Branchburg, N.J. A prayer was held at the Bridgewater Methodist Church 651 Country Club Road, Bridgewater, N.J., at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 7, 2017, followed by interment at Somerset Hills Memorial Park in Basking Ridge, N.J. Memorial contributions may be made in her memory to the Eastern Amputee Golf Association, 2015 Amherst Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015

GardenerNews.com

May, 2017 9

Around The Garden

By Tom Castronovo Gardener News

What’s Hot? This month, I’m sharing highlights from Garden Media’s 2017 Trends Report. There are some very revealing statistics and information that I thought may be of interest to you.

The report mostly reflects people’s desire to bring health and wellness into their everyday lives all year long.

In coming years, people will “Grow 365” indoors and out – anything, anywhere. It says the kitchen garden and the kitchen counter are not the only places plants will pop up in 2017.

By making gardening a healthy lifestyle choice, anyone can integrate nature into their lives and enjoy the health benefits of growing all year long.

Clean, healthy living is also driving changes in the lawn and garden industry. A growing number of American consumers describe themselves as “health conscious” or “ingredient sensitive,” and a majority say they pay close attention to the ingredients in the food they buy.

Demand for clean food, clean water, clean air, clean medicine and clean environments is dramatically shifting how people buy plants and products, and garden both inside and out. Challenges to gardening outdoors –severe climate conditions, contaminated water, soil infertility and pests – make gardening indoors a growing opportunity. As mainstream consumers grow food indoors, indoor gardening is redefined. And the “canna-business” sweeping the U.S is giving this medicinal plant an upscale makeover and moving it out of the closet and into the living room –and the garden.

According to the 2016 National Gardening report, five million of the six million “new” gardeners were 18-to-34-year-olds.

The report also said that indoor gardening stores made just under $1 billion in 2015 and the market has grown 8.2 percent in the past five years. Increasing consumer focus on healthy eating habits spurs demand. Also, 66 percent of parents think children need to be involved in activities centered around healthy food, and 37 percent of millennials and 28 percent of Boomers are growing herbs indoors.

Here’s something of interest. Developed in Japan in the 1980s, forest bathing is a cornerstone of preventive health care and natural healing in Japanese medicine. Considered by many to be the latest fitness trend to hit the U.S., forest bathing is the “medicine of being in the forest” and spending time in nature awakening all five senses. Forest bathing is today where yoga was 30 years ago. Research shows time spent in nature reduces stress and increases well-being.

Studies examine how sounds – or the lack of sounds – indicate the ecological health of a landscape and the health of our lives. Our mental health, wellness and quality of life are directly affected by trees.

Trees change everyday city sounds –from adding birdsongs to buffering sirens.

Trees provide more than shade to keep people and homes cool. They actually minimize the harmful effects of UV rays on skin. That’s right — trees actually act as nature’s sunscreen. According to Purdue University, sitting under a shade tree provides the equivalent of SPF 10. This I did not know.

The study also showed that new varieties of dwarf plants and edibles conserve space and produce bountiful harvests.

It said to grow plants in large containers instead of many small ones, and to maximize small spaces by growing multiple plants in the same container.

The trends report also showed that Americans now demand to know what is in and on their food – and where it comes from. The demand for organic, locally sourced food now far exceeds the supply. Consumers today are demanding products that are clean and “free” from pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives and cages. This clean-food movement and lack of locally grown, organic food is causing a profound shift in the food world that is dramatically affecting gardening.

Are you bugged by bugs? Planting herbs like basil, chives, lavender, mint, rosemary, sage, lemon balm and thyme will help keep mosquitoes away. Or, simply blow them away with an electric fan.

Mosquitoes don’t stand a chance against the strong breeze.

Did you know that pops of gold in the landscape warm up spaces and create the feeling of outdoor rooms. Plus, the reflective accent helps move light nicely around the garden. My goldenyellow daffodils really pop in the woodline.

Another trend of the last few years that’s still growing is planting plants and crafting landscapes that are friendly to pollinators. The Garden Club of New Jersey is championing an effort to put pollinator signage in every garden center, nursery and public garden in the Garden State.

I wonder if these trends will continue throughout 2017. And what new trends will emerge. Only time will tell. Garden on, my friends!

As always, I hope you find the information in the Gardener News informative and enjoyable.

Until next time…Keep the “garden” in the Garden State.

-Tom Editor’s Note: Tom Castronovo is executive editor and publisher of Gardener News. Tom’s lifelong interest in gardening and passion for agriculture, environmental stewardship, gardening and landscaping, led to the founding of the Gardener News, which germinated in April 2003 and continues to bloom today. He is also dedicated to providing inspiration, and education to the agricultural, gardening and landscaping communities through this newspaper and GardenerNews.com.

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Dandelions are the king of the lawn jungle.

The name dandelion means, “tooth of the lion,” referring to the tooth-like leaves on the base of the plant. Dandelions are the most recognized lawn weed because they are so easy to find, with their bright yellow flower and grey puffballs, and they seem to be all over the place.

Remember, April showers bring May flowers – yes, a bunch of dandelions.

What can we do to get rid of “the king” of lawn weeds?

The best way to control dandelions is to understand their life cycle.

Dandelions are perennial plants that belong to the sunflower family. They do look somewhat similar, but what a difference, lowgrowing dandelions versus a tall-growing sunflower!

They were introduced from Europe and love sunny, moist areas of the lawn.

Dandelions continually bloom and reseed themselves, so they are a constant threat to a greatlooking lawn. Their roots can grow up to 18 inches deep

us back to how to grow a great lawn. Proper feeding, mowing, weed controls and watering play a factor in the quality of your lawn. You can apply corn gluten-based products as a pre-emergent to prevent dandelions. Corn gluten when put down in early-spring before dandelion seeds germinate can control them over time, if you wish to go organic.

However, corn gluten products will not control existing weeds.

Early-fall is also a good time to control dandelions, even though the bright yellow flower is not as prominent. Monitor your lawn and consider a broadleaf weed application if plants are present. If you follow a sound lawn care program you can eliminate dandelions over time. Good luck fighting the dreaded dandelion!

Turf ‘s Up

By Todd Pretz Professional Turf Consultant

The Dandelion…the king of the jungle to help ensure long-term survival. After blooming, the grey puffballs appear in late-spring. Each puffball can contain over 200 seeds!

The dandelion plant grows low to avoid mowing, but the puffball stems grow high between mowings to spread their seeds for miles.

I’ve heard many times, “I have a great lawn but my neighbor; his dandelions invade my lawn every year!”

How do we get rid of dandelions? Children may like to pick them and collect them, but the plant will still live from its strong roots.

You can try to pull them out, but most likely some root mass may remain and the plant rejuvenates itself. You can dig them out; this can be effective provided you get the whole root. If you have

200-plus dandelions in your lawn, is it practical to dig them all out? Sometimes when dandelions get out of control, you need a little help.

Weed-and-feed granular products are available on the market. They feed the good grass and can control dandelions and other broadleaf weeds at the same time. There also are a number of three-way liquid spray products on the market. The beauty of these weed-and-feed products is that they are “selective,” meaning they can kill many weeds and not your lawn.

Dandelions and other broadleaf weeds are best controlled when they are actively growing, not when temperatures are less than 50 degrees. Of course,

follow label directions for best control. Here are the three tips for best control: do not mow your grass for two days before or after application, apply to a moist dew-like lawn, do not water in or expect rainfall for two days after application.

By following these three golden rules, your weed control will be greatly enhanced. Do not apply broadleaf weed controls if the weather is hot and humid with temperatures over 85 degrees. Dandelions can take three to four weeks for complete kill down to the root, be patient. Note, these broadleaf weed controls will not control crabgrass!

If you do not want dandelions, why do you not have a better growing, healthy lawn? This brings

Editor’s Note: Todd Pretz is Vice President of Jonathan Green, a leading supplier of lawn and garden products in the northeast. For more information, please visit: www.jonathangreen.com

NJLCA Grill-Fest Membership Meeting Al Demuro, right, president of Al “D” Landscaping and Tree Service, hosted the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Associations monthly membership meeting at his Fairview, Bergen County, location on Thursday, April 13.

As a special treat to those attending the meeting, he surprised everyone by having Daniel Concepcion from Tony Santana’s Cigars in Bayonne, teach everyone the art of cigar rolling.

Concepcion provided three types of Cuban cigars to connoisseurs that wanted to taste the distinguished flavors.

During the meeting, the landscape community learned about First Aid, Licensing, Traffic Safety, Trucks and Trailers.

And they also ate well, too. Demuro has become famous with his annual grill-fest. As Demuro said, “Everybody walks out full Tom Castronovo/Photo and fat!”

GardenerNews.com

May, 2017 11

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GardenerNews.com

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GardenerNews.com How green is the Green Industry? What is our role to protect the environment while we continue to provide services to our clients?

These are questions that I ask of our industry. These are the questions some communities are asking of us. We as an industry are so overly regulated. The state and municipal authorities want contractors to comply with so many rules and regulations that it makes it very difficult for contractors to make a profit and still satisfy the demand of being green.

Lawn maintenance equipment started using fuelinjected engines, which are controlled by mini computers on them, to reduce hydro carbons by burning gas more efficiently. It also gives you the ability to get more acreage per tank. Manufactures are given standards that they must follow as to the amount of pollution they are allowed to emit. They are constantly working with the EPA to develop gas engines that are environmentally sensitive.

There are some recent alternative fuel choices available to contractors for lawn mowing. One is propane mowers. Propane has been used for fork lifts for decades.

What we mean by this is, do we practice indiscriminant shearing of ornamentals or do we take into account the natural growth, mature size and health of our plants?

Shearing of all our plants can increase the incidence of disease problems and can make the plants more attractive to insects. By horticultural pruning, we mean systematically reducing the height and girth of plants by removing branches through the use of hand pruning.

This involves reaching into the plant and cutting back into the old wood, therefore reducing the size of the plant while keeping the natural shape and intended look of these ornamentals.

Try to make cuts at a lateral stem or bud. This will eliminate long pieces of dead tissue which are an open invitation for problems.

Proper pruning to enhance the natural form of your plants will also make them more efficient water users as well.

This is important at this time of year as we are headed into the hot dry weather.

Timing can be important in your pruning as well.

Generally speaking, if your pruning is done properly and you are maintaining the

May, 2017 13 The NJLCA Today

By Nelson Lee Association President

Maximizing advances in equipment Compared with gasoline mowers, propane reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 percent.

Propane mowers cost about 30 percent less per hour to operate than gas mowers, and maintenance costs are reduced. Because propane burns more efficiently in the engine, it doesn’t contaminate the oil as fast, therefore requiring less oil changes per season. It also reduces fuel loss because propane equipment has a secure closed-loop fuel system. This saves money by virtually eliminating costly harmful spills and dramatically reduces fuel theft.

Propane is also consistently less expensive than gas at the pump. It also reduces the labor expense of having to send men over to the local fuel station to fill up gasoline cans.

My company has been using propane mowers for

over five years now, and we have found it to be very beneficial. Not only is it a conversation piece, but we as a company feel that being able to contribute to reducing pollution gives satisfaction to my clients and my employees.

We have experienced all of the benefits that I discussed.

Another source of power for lawn-maintenance equipment that is gaining more popularity is electric. I am not talking about plugging into an outlet. I am talking about battery operated. How crazy would it be if we had to carry an extension cord around with us and have to plug into a generator or find an outlet on a client’s property?

The commercial equipment on the market today includes mowers of all styles from riders, standers, walk behind and push movers.

There are also lawn trimmers,

hedge trimmers, edgers, chainsaws and blowers. With lithium-ion battery technology improving, it’s possible to get almost eight hours of operation on one charge for some equipment and almost the same performance as gas, depending on what the equipment is.

Lithium-ion battery replaced NiCad batteries in handheld tools. They are smaller, lighter and provide more energy than other similar size batteries in the past. Another major advantage is they don’t suffer from “memory effect” if they are discharged and charged at the same state of charge several times. Lithium-ion batteries also operate at full speed until depleted so there is no gradual drop in power during use.

There are so many benefits to battery-operated electric equipment. One of the main

The Landscaper

By Evan Dickerson Landscape Professional

Do We Trim or Prune? natural form of your plants, most can thrive with the job done yearly.

Ornamentals that bloom before the end of June should be pruned after flowering.

This will encourage the setting of buds for next year’s flowers as these buds form on this year’s growth.

Some examples of these are: Amelanchier, Azalea, Barberry, Bittersweet, Crabapple, Dogwood varieties, Deutzia, Forsythia, Hawthorne, Laurel varieties, Lilac, Magnolia, Mockorange, Quince, Redbud, Rhododendron, Spirea, Viburnum, Wiegela and Wisteria.

There are other plants which flower after June.

These varieties would be best served if pruned in winter or early-spring before bud break, since these plants set up their flowers

during the current spring season. Examples of these plants are: Abelia, Aralia, Butterfly bush, Beautyberry, Golden rain tree, Hibiscus, Hydrnagea, Sweet Bay Magnolia, Stewartia and Snowberry.

Still other plants may actually benefit from light pruning before or after their blooming period and there may even be another bloom on some of these including: Cotoneaster varieties, Oregon grape holly, Red osier dogwood, Anthony Waterer and Froebel Spirea, Snowberry and Wiegela.

Dead-heading, removing old flowers and blossoms on perennials and ornamentals can be done at this time as well. This will extend the blooming period on some plants and aid in the set up of flowers for next season on others.

Certainly, when plants are used as a screen, as topiaries or to border an area, and the intended look is a particular form or hedge, the gas or electric, even hand shears would be appropriate to use.

However, when shearing, it is important to remember to keep the top of your hedges slightly thinner than the bottom. This will ensure fuller growth.

Pruning devices of all types must be kept razor sharp. Not only will this make your job easier to accomplish, it will keep your cuts clean and even.

A good rule of thumb for any pruning is to get it accomplished at a time when the plant will recover the fastest. Usually this is during the summer months when new growth will be properly stimulated and this new succulent growth will be able to harden off enough to withstand the effects of

ones is there is no toxic waste emitted from their use. The other major benefit is that there is very little maintenance to do on them. They don’t use gas and don’t need oil changes. This saves time, fuel and product.

The upfront cost for both of these types of alternative power equipment is staggering! It could take years to recoup your initial investment, and by then, who knows, especially with electric? Will the equipment last long enough due to the abuse a landscape contractor gives it on a daily basis? I guess only time will tell.

Will homeowners be willing to pay more to a contractor who utilizes environmentally friendly equipment? Some say yes, but we will all soon find out.

Have a great season!

Editor’s Note: Nelson Lee is president of the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association (NJLCA). He is also Founder and President of Landscapeworks, Inc., Advanced Mulch Services, Inc. and Advanced Hauling.

Lee can be reached at nlee@landscapeworks.net or by calling the NJLCA at 201703-3600. winter. Some fall pruning is done as well to remove wild shoots and dead or suffering spots.

Practices which can help your plants withstand drought or the effects of heat in the summer would be: Making sure your plants are well irrigated prior to pruning, as well as after getting this work done will ensure that the new growth is properly stimulated; lightly fertilizing certain ornamentals and perennials to give them a boost just as they are putting on new growth; and antidessicant sprays are also beneficial when applied after pruning, as they will help the plants retain moisture and give some protection to the foliage which may be more exposed to sunlight than in the past.

Your pruning experience can be rewarding as well as therapeutic, and as such will be a benefit to your plants as well as yourself.

Editor’s Note: Evan Dickerson is owner of Dickerson Landscape Contractors and NaturesPro of North Plainfield. He has been pioneering the organic approach to plant health since 1972. Evan can be reached at 908-753-1490

14 May, 2017

GardenerNews.com

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16 May, 2017

GardenerNews.com

Kindred Spirits

By Jeannie Geremia Garden Club of New Jersey

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Reconnecting with the kindred spirits one meets in a lifetime is a joy to contemplate, as we never know when one is going to appear from our past.

It seems like they’ve been waiting in “the wings” of our subconscious or in the deep recesses of our heart, and like magic, suddenly reappear front and center when we need their spirit most. The amazing thing about it is that we instantly recognize them and the magic just engulfs us with new purpose, vision and dedication.

The catalyst in my rediscovery of a kindred spirit is Marina Kerber, GCNJ’s District 8 Director and President of Navesink Garden Club in Red Bank.

GCNJ President Susan O’Donnell, along with incoming GCNJ President Elect Louise Davis and I were attending District 8’s spring meeting of representatives from 25 garden clubs in Little Silver, when Marina gave the “thought of the day,” quoting author Gladys Taber.

Gladys Taber was a columnist for Family Circle decades ago when I was a young housewife and mother. I couldn’t wait to read her monthly columns as she wrote about her beloved Stillmeadow, a 1690s Connecticut farmhouse on 40 acres.

She rhapsodized about her country life with family, friends, pets, and wildlife all around her. She wrote so vividly that you felt what she felt and saw the world in glowing symmetry.

The very next morning, I “Googled” Gladys Taber, and to my delight discovered that she had written 59 books besides writing for Family Circle and Ladies Home Journal.

Gladys taught creative writing at Columbia University and people are still discovering her books today as she has a fan club and Friends of Gladys Taber volunteer group that

publishes four journals a year of her writings.

She is listed in heady company with Henry David Thoreau and Rachel Carson as a premier nature writer, and I immediately implored my husband to “gift” me her book entitled “The Best of Stillmeadow, A Treasury of Country Living.” It came today and is a compilation of her “seasonally oriented overview of the country life” from her books “Harvest at Stillmeadow,” “The Book of Stillmeadow,” “Stillmeadow Seasons,” “Stillmeadow Daybook,” “Stillmeadow Sampler” and “Stillmeadow Calendar” (which I just read as I had hastened to the library and borrowed four of her books).

It is striking to me, as I finished her “Stillmeadow Calendar” written in 1967, how timeless it is. Gladys worries about rampant growth, pesticide use and destruction of our environment. She agrees with Rachel Carson, quotes Thoreau and Rupert Brooke--And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours, Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon….., and says “Now I don’t really believe moths actually drink flowers--it certainly doesn’t fit in with what I know of the moths I have met---but it is such pure beauty that it doesn’t matter at all. It evokes magic.” And so does Gladys, my gardening friends. She evokes magic and sweeps you away in her loving embrace of a simple, yet glorious country life.

Heartened by these voices from the past whose impact reverberates to this day, we continue in their footsteps by educating ourselves on ways to preserve our wildlife population. We can provide connecting corridors of plants, trees and shrubs, thus providing habitat for our pollinators while using IPM (Integrated Pest Management) methods, preserving open space, with the realization that each species has an important role to play as we are all

interconnected. The loss of one species has a domino effect on all others.

My friend, Terry Holman, adopted the Tomato Hornworm as her “live and let live” philosophy took hold last summer. Terry was enamored of the Tomato Hornworm Moth’s beauty, realizing that it would never become a moth, if she dispatched the caterpillar.

Hence she developed a policy of a “sacrificial” tomato plant that she festooned with any and every Tomato Hornworm caterpillar that showed up on her other tomato plants.

Terry was privileged to see a few of her caterpillars transform magically into the enchanting moth, the ones that managed to escape the lethal parasitic wasp that lays its eggs on the poor caterpillar, sucking its innards out.

You may not want to adopt a Tomato Hornworm or a Black Swallowtail Butterfly, but think about adopting your own “special species.”

Think of the adventures ahead and the nifty results of each of us adopting a special bug, bird, bee, butterfly, moth or frog.

Become a kindred spirit with your species and we can all prosper and enjoy the fruits of this earth for generations to come.

Get Out There! Join a garden club, nature group, become a Master Gardener, VOLUNTEER in your community!

Editor’s Note: Jeannie Geremia is the Community Gardens Chair, the Butterflies & BeeGAP Chair and the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Chair for The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc., and is a National Garden Clubs, Inc., Accredited Life Flower Show Judge for the GCNJ. Jeannie is a member of Neshanic Garden Club and her email address is: jgeremia42@gmail.com The Garden Club of New Jersey website is: www. gardenclubofnewjersey. com and phone number is: 732-249-0947.

GardenerNews.com

May, 2017 17

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I just read an article by Jennifer Mitchell and felt it was important to share with everyone who loves blueberries.

Next to lobsters, blueberries are Maine’s biggest crop.

“Terrible. Just horrible,” said William Rudelitch recently in Ellsworth, where he was attending one of several meetings organized by the Maine Cooperative Extension to discuss strategies for how to stay in business.

Rudelitch has a small operation in the Washington County town of Harrington, on about 30 acres. A typical acre of blueberry barrens will yield about 2,000 to 4,000 pounds of berries, depending on pollination and other factors.

It may sound like a lot, but the prices paid at freezer facilities to growers like Rudelitch have slid into the pennies per pound. “Oh 25 to 29 cents, in that range.

Half the cost of production, maybe. Not good,” he said.

Ten years ago, the same pound of berries was worth $1.09. So what’s going on?

“Well traditionally, cultivated blueberries are a fresh market fruit, and wild blueberries are traditionally a processed fruit,” said wild blueberry specialist David Yarborough with the Maine Cooperative Extension.

There’s also a barbecue sauce and a special line of wedding favors: tiny jars of blueberry jam called “Something Blue.” The profits made on value-added products like those bring stability, the Worcesters say, to an industry known for its volatility.

But it didn’t happen overnight. Dozens of growers such as Rudelitch have no choice but to face yet another year of predicted low prices.

In order to stay in the game, he says, everybody he knows is cutting back.

“On future projects, on just, workforce, less fertilizer, less bees, less everything,” he said.

Similar to what New England’s small cranberry producers have been coping with for years, some wild blueberry growers will likely be forced out of business. Others will try to hang on until prices turn around.

In the meantime, Yarborough says, consumers could have the biggest role of all to play: buying and eating more Maine wild blueberries will help turn the market around. If Mainers are one thing, they are resilient!

Thanks for reading and see ya next month.

A couple weeks ago, my son came to me and stated that he had to write something for his language arts class in school about child labor. He asked if I had any suggestions. I said sure, and immediately started ticking off some ideas.

Then, after about the third or fourth example of some of the positive aspects of gaining some work experience at a young age, he interrupted me and explained that he thought he was supposed to write about how bad child labor was. Evidently, his assignment had to do with forced child labor in foreign countries; the type where 8- and 9-year-olds are made to make T-shirts or hand stitch soccer balls for pennies a day. Well, so much for my ideas!

Sure, there is no place in society for the forced type of child labor that I explained above, but I could not help but think of some of the benefits of some type of work experience at a young age. If you look back 100 or 150 years ago, it was commonplace for children to

The Miscellaneous Gardener

By Richard W. Perkins Freelance Writer

In a Jam… Maine Growers Are Struggling Yarborough says you can roughly categorize blueberries into two groups: cultivated, or “high bush,” and wild, or “low bush.”

Wild blueberries, those found only in Maine and parts of Canada, are smaller, have a more complex flavor and contain higher levels of antioxidants than their cultivated high bush cousins, he says. Traditionally, the two fruits never competed.

But recently, other countries have stepped up their cultivated high bush berry effort. “If you look at British Columbia, they produced 160 million pounds of blueberries, and you know, you usually think of high bush as fresh market. They froze 110 million of the 160 million, so all those blueberries are now sitting and competing directly with wild blueberries,” Yarborough said.

That’s bad news for a Maine industry that sends only

1 percent of its crop to the produce stand and 99 percent to be processed in muffin mixes, granola bars and frozen in bags.

The state has pumped more than 100 million pounds of low bush fruit into the frozen market each year for the past three growing cycles. As with most commodities, prices have been fickle.

For smaller growers, the ride can be especially bumpy.

But one producer says he saw the writing on the wall a decade ago and made some changes.

Everett and Lee Worcester’s Wild Blueberries in Orneville Township has about 70 acres in production and is one of the few commercial berry operations in Piscataquis County.

Everett says for a long time he did things the conventional way and trucked his berries to a processor an hour and a half away. But the prices kept fluctuating so bad that

he just veered off in another direction. So about 10 years ago, the Worcesters revamped their business plan and did the reverse of what other producers were doing. They started selling fresh quarts and pints of berries at farmers’ markets, and then worked to get them distributed to nearby stores, bakeries and food service outlets.

Lee says after an investment of tens of thousands of dollars, they could also do their own freezing and look for creative ways to diversify beyond the requisite jams and jellies.

“Everett and I have developed oh, 15, 16 different products,” she said. “We have a new product that’s about to come out. Everett’s Blueberry Salsa. We develop a new product when customers keep asking over time, ‘Do you have….?’ and we then develop it. And for what, two, three years, they’ve been after salsa.”

The Town Farmer

By Peter Melick Agricultural Producer

Child Labor help out with chores around the farm.

Children might be tasked with feeding the chickens, or gathering the eggs every morning. Perhaps as the children grew older, they would be given more advanced chores to do, such as caring for the cows or horses, or helping with the housework and the preparation of meals. And while doing these chores around the farm, children would gain some valuable work experience that they could use later on in life.

They could also learn what they liked to do and what they did not like to do, thereby helping them to make decisions about what they wanted to do for a career. Maybe a boy, helping out on his parents’ farm,

decided that he didn’t much care for raising chickens, but liked working to fix some of the farm equipment so much that he became a mechanic.

Or maybe a girl decided that she did not like to cook and clean, but really enjoyed working with the cows on the farm, so she decided to become a veterinarian.

There is also something to be said for just developing good work habits. Many successful people today, when asked how they were able to get to the top of their current professions, cite experiences that they had working in their first jobs as some of the drivers of their success.

The lessons that can be learned in these first opportunities of employment are almost endless. They

give teens and young adults a sense of responsibility and teach them the importance of completing tasks on time.

They are shown how to work well independently, as well as how to work well with others. They learn the value of money and also learn to not take for granted the work that their parents do in order to provide for them.

They learn how important it is to be on time, and how important it is to be able to get along with other people.

We could go on and on with some of these valuable life lessons.

I think that the best lesson that can come from early work experience, though, has to be the sense of accomplishment one gets after successfully completing a project. Which would be

Editors Note: Check out Richard’s photography at; rwperkinsphotography.com

the better life experience to relate to your own kids?

“Wow, I can’t believe that I stayed down at the shore for the whole summer between high school and college.

I got the best tan!” or “I worked all summer painting houses and was able to save enough money and buy my first car!”

I think we all know the answer to that one. After all, if you could work hard enough to buy a car, maybe you could earn enough to buy a house someday as well.

Sure, it is important to have some fun, but some hard work makes those fun times that much more enjoyable.

Editor’s Note: Peter Melick is co-owner of Melick’s Town Farm in Oldwick and a 10th-generation New Jersey farmer. Peter is currently the Mayor of Tewksbury Township. He also served as a director for the New Jersey Farm Bureau and is a past president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. Peter has also been featured on NJN, News 12 New Jersey and on the Fox Business Network.

GardenerNews.com

May, 2017 19

“How hungry did the first person to eat that have to be?” is a question long associated with the oyster.

At first sight, I do admit, they don’t particularly look very appetizing, but once you start to enjoy, understand and appreciate the oyster and the differences between the various types, you’ll get over it.

Flavor profiles of oyster vary as much as wine grapes and the various styles of wine. Some of the different ways to describe the oyster are sweet, briny, crisp and even creamy, with hints of flavors such as cucumber and even melon.

Where the oyster is harvested determines the flavor profile of that specific oyster. Humans have been eating oysters for thousands of years. They can be enjoyed raw or cooked. They are high in calcium, iron and protein and are said to be an aphrodisiac.

Oysters are found throughout the world’s oceans, usually in shallow waters. They feed by extracting algae and other food particles over their gills, thus filtering the water naturally.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Matt Gregg, who is helping to bring back oyster farming to the Barnegat Bay. He and his company, 40 North Oysters, (check out their website, it’s awesome!) are harvesting oysters from the beautiful waters

A dash or 2 of tabasco, optional method-place shucked oysters in buttermilk and let sit -heat the oil in a pan to 350 degrees -combine cornmeal, flour and salt and pepper in a bowl -dredge oysters individually in corn meal mix -repeat once more by putting oysters back in the buttermilk and once again into corn meal mix -add to oil, and cook until golden brown on all sides, turning as they fry -drain on a paper towel-lined plate and serve in the cleaned, reserved shells to make remoulade-combine mayo, lemon juice, ketchup, capers, relish, parsley, shallot and tabasco in a bowl and whisk together until well incorporated -serve on the side with the lemon wedges and ENJOY!!!

From the Deep

By Craig Korb Executive Chef

Shucking great oysters of the Barnegat Bay. During the 1950s there was the great oyster collapse, in which pollution and over-harvesting brought down the oyster farming of Barnegat Bay. Due to the rising popularity of oysters, as well as the locally sourced movement, the Barnegat Bay oyster is back, with Matt George and 40 North Oysters leading the way.

I have spoken to Matt several times and I am planning a trip for a tour of the oyster farms in the near future. As chef of The Crab’s Claw Inn in Lavallette, I am constantly trying to procure locally sourced items such as vegetables and seafood. My family and I thoroughly enjoy oysters, and I have to tell you that each and every oyster we have purchased from 40 North has been pristine and of exceptional quality.

When I first tried them, I was pleasantly shocked to learn that they came from our own backyard, literally. The Crab’s Claw is but a

stone’s throw from the Barnegat Bay. We will be working with this exceptional company and carrying their oysters as long as we can. They’re that good, folks.

There are currently about a dozen oyster farms in New Jersey.

When talking with Matt, you can really get a sense of his passion for his work and his knowledge of the bay and aquaculture in general.

He explains how beneficial the oysters are to the bay in a video on the 40 North website. It’s a winwin situation, really. They supply local restaurants with great fresh oysters, as well as cleaning the bay, which is a main focus of 40 North. They also harvest clams, which we will more than likely be carrying at the restaurant.

So, onto the recipe of the month. As much as I enjoy fresh shucked oysters on the half with a squeeze of lemon and a shot of tabasco, I equally enjoy fried oysters dipped in a nice mayonnaise-based remoulade

sauce.

This is a fairly easy recipe and makes for a great presentation as well. It can be used as an appetizer for two or a dinner for one. Enjoy this while sitting outside on a nice May evening.

See you next month with some grill action!

Cornmeal crusted oysters with remoulade (serves 1 as a dinner or 2 as an app.)

12 fresh oysters (as local as possible) shucked and bottom of the shell washed and saved 1/2 cup corn meal 1/2 cup flour 1 cup buttermilk Oil for frying, about a cup Salt and pepper to taste 3-4 lemon wedges 1 tsp. lemon juice 1/2 cup mayo 1 tsp. ketchup 1 tsp. capers, chopped 1 tsp. relish 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley 1 shallot, minced

Editor’s Note: Craig Korb is executive chef at The Crab’s Claw Inn, Lavallette, New Jersey. He has an Associates degree in Culinary Arts and a Bachelors degree in Food Service Management from Johnson and Wales University.

For more information visit www.TheCrabsClaw.com or phone (732) 793-4447.

When is a Geranium Not a Geranium?

By Hubert Ling Have you ever grown American geraniums? Most gardeners are familiar with the red flowered South African plant called a geranium, but technically the name for that plant is Pelargonium.

Pelargoniums are not hardy in New Jersey.

However, there is a lovely perennial New Jersey woodland plant which is a real geranium: that is, the scientific name is Geranium maculatum.

Common names for this plant are wild geranium or American cranesbill.

The name geranium is from geranos which is Greek for crane. This term refers to the fruit which is elongated like a crane’s beak. The species name maculatum is from the Latin for spotted.

Exactly what is supposed to be spotted is a matter of conjecture. The flowers can sometimes have slightly blotchy pink coloration or the

leaves sometimes have spots of lighter yellow-green, and in the fall there are sometimes brilliant red patches on the leaves. Generally however, this plant has uniform color of both the flowers and the leaves.

Wild geraniums are easy to grow in any good garden soil. They are tolerant of different conditions but prefer partial shade, normal water conditions, and good drainage. The plants are easily propagated from root divisions or by using fresh or dried seed. If conditions are right, the plant can spread slowly by underground rhizomes to form magnificent large colonies, but most colonies in the wild are two feet wide and four feet long at most and are not aggressive.

Wild geraniums have conspicuous one- to one-anda-half-inch flowers borne in loose clusters of two to five in May. The flowers have five petals and are light pink, magenta, deep pink, or on rare occasions a white form may be found. Some

flowers show darker pink lines radiating out from the centers. In ultraviolet light, these lines appear as dark stripes and apparently act as nectar guides for pollinators.

The flowers attract flies, butterflies, native bees and honeybees.

The leaves are deeply divided into five or six lobes and are basically round in shape, somewhat resembling a small maple or sycamore leaf, and mature plants reach a height of one to two feet.

Seed dispersal in true geraniums is spectacular! The long pointy “crane’s bill” is formed from five springs which break apart violently from each other and catapult the seeds 10 to 20 feet from the parent plant. Each seed has a small, tail-like structure which curls and uncurls with changes in moisture; movements of this “tail” help bury the seeds. The seeds provide food for birds and mammals.

The fleshy rhizomes and roots, which are high in tannins and gallic acid,

played a prominent role in Native American medicine.

They were used to treat dysentery and diarrhea.

Rhizomes were also used as a styptic to stop bleeding in the mouth and the Meskwaki tribe of present-day Iowa used them for toothaches, sore gums and hemorrhoids.

Rhizomes were also used as a poultice on burns.

Mentioning the above uses does not mean that experimentation with the roots is safe or effective, since each person reacts differently to medications, and safe dosages are impossible to predict because individual wild plants vary widely in medicinal content.

New Jersey has two other native geraniums: Carolina and Herb Robert geranium.

Both of these are annuals and have inconspicuous small flowers. Herb Robert is interesting because of its small, intense red flowers and its long blooming period from May to October. It is also interesting because of its intense, powerful, bad smell,

which repels many people and even deer.

Geranium maculatum grows naturally all over Eastern North America and in New Jersey it is found in almost every county.

It is easy to cultivate and do well in as a border in a shady part of your garden with rhododendrons, ferns, Solomon’s seal and trillium.

Geraniums have no serious diseases or insect pests but can develop minor rust or leaf spots.

Wild geranium is available at a number of native-plant nurseries.

Check out the listings on the Native Plant Society of New Jersey website at www. npsnj.org. While you are there, also look for additional information and photos of wild geraniums in the photo gallery.

Editor’s Note: Hubert Ling is the Horticulture Chairman for the Native Plant Society of New Jersey. He can be reached at milhubling@verizon.net

20 May, 2017

GardenerNews.com

One of the most beautiful trees you will ever come across in a landscape is Japanese Snowbell, Styrax japonicus. A gorgeous tree native to Japan, China and Korea, Styrax grows 20 to 30 feet tall with an equal spread.

Perfect for residential landscapes, this is one of those quintessential trees that will impress you in every season.

However, despite all that it offers, it has never really become mainstream with the likes of dogwood, redbud and cherry types.

Japanese Snowbell has showy, mildly fragrant, waxy white flowers in May and June.

These bell-shaped flowers are held below medium to dark green leaves and are as beautiful as they are reliable from year to year.

The flowers yield to greenishbrown, olive-shaped drupes which can last into the fall. This extraordinary understory tree has revealing bark as well. Graybrown smooth bark, eventually reveals irregular orange-brown markings, in shallow fissures.

This is an instant “give away”, on older specimens, when trying to identify trees in the winter months. And while the fall color is usually insignificant, there are times when yellow and red hues decide to make themselves known. A tree with very little

a symmetrical, perfect pyramid with fine texture and dark green foliage. J.F. Schmidt & Son Co. introduced ‘Snowcone’ and it is represented as being resistant to twig dieback.

Japanese Snowbell, Styrax japonicus may not have the type of name that rolls easily off your tongue. However, this handsome tree, and its many varieties, can and will impress you throughout the year. Given all that Styrax offers, I continue to be buffaloed by the fact that this tree remains on the “unknown tree” list. A list of trees that many horticultural professionals admire and wish the public would too. Trees like Stewartia, Halesia, Maackia and Eucommia are usually on this list too and are subject to past and future articles by this author.

The flowering plants are divided into two distinct groups, the dicots and the monocots. To keep it simple, dicots have two seed leaves (cotyledons), and the leaves have netted venation.

Monocots have one seed leaf, and have parallel venation.

Some evolutionary biologists consider monocots advanced, as they have simplified various aspects of their life-history strategies.

Common monocots that you know are the grasses, lilies and orchids. Many tropical plants we grow as houseplants are also monocots. Most of these groups are represented by herbaceous annuals or perennials. But there is one group we consider trees: the palms.

Palms, formerly the Family Palmae but now correctly the Arecaceae, are trees, shrubs or vines. For most of us, they are trees, mostly found in subtropical and tropical ecosystems. They are often medium to tall trees, with welldeveloped unbranched trunks supporting large fan-shaped leaves forming the “crown.”

Unlike our native hardwoods and conifers, palms do not form true wood. If you were to cut through a coconut palm, you

Unique Plants

By Bob LaHoff Nursery Specialist

Evening Light insect or disease problems, it is closely related to another personal favorite of mine, Silverbell, Halesia. Developing a broad, flat-topped canopy over time, Styrax is perfectly suitable for patio areas, offering a natural umbrella canopy for you to sip cocktails under. Always appreciate of full sun to partial shade and moist well-drained soil, there are many cultivars or varieties to be on the lookout for.

However, the latest and greatest of them all, in my opinion, is ‘Evening Light’.

Styrax japonicus ‘Evening Light’ is one of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen.

Many of the requirements and attributes are similar to the genus and species, but there are very exciting differences. For one, given that this tree is so new to the trade, the height and width expectations vary from grower to grower. However, most agree that the overall stature of

‘Evening Light’ is roughly half of the genus and species. In addition, the white blooms of this cultivar are “ultra-fragrant” (waysidegardens.com) and held on maroon stems. And what really ties this all together is its dark purple, almost black foliage with shaded green tones. Touted as able to withstand extremes in both heat and cold, a great gardening trick for this tree is keeping it moist throughout the growing seasons. Having said this, ‘Evening Light’ is reported to rebloom in the early fall if you manage to do just that. Now that I have your attention with this spectacular new tree, here’s the catch, supply is extremely limited! We have Henry Kolster of the Netherlands to thank for the chance seedling he found.

Another reason for selecting ‘Evening Light’, should you want a lovely chocolaty-purple leaved tree, is you could do away with ‘Thundercloud’

Plum, Prunus cerasifera ‘Thundercloud’. Perhaps one of the most popular purple leaved trees offered to gardeners today, this tree is laden with problems.

Susceptible to a large number of insect and disease issues, black knot (Apiosporina morbosa) is something we diagnose, almost on a weekly basis, at our garden center.

Styrax is full of great cultivars to choose from, ‘Pink Chimes’ being towards the top of the list. A gorgeous, small, pink flowering tree with an upright habit is one of the best and easiest to secure. ‘Emerald Pagoda’, a variety introduced by the late, great Dr. JC Raulston and the U.S. National Arboretum, has almost all of its attributes larger than other types. The tree and leaves are larger, leathery foliage, larger flowers and significant heat tolerance all make this a favorite for many experienced gardeners. Finally, ‘Snowcone’ is

Tree Notes

By Steve Schuckman NJ Certified Tree Expert

The Palms would not find annual rings, per se, but rather a matrix of tissue filled with cylinders of vascular tissue. Palms are more like corn than they are like maples.

The family is composed of more than 236 genera and 3,400 species. Economically, it is almost as important as the Poaceae, the grass family.

Consider that grasses feed the world, and without them, humans would starve. Grasses provide corn, rice, wheat, rye and sugar. Yet palms provide many products that most of us would never know came from palms.

The family is an important source of edible fruits, oils, waxes, building materials, and ornamentals. Think about it: no tropical beach would be complete without a stand of coconut palms. That’s what makes the tropics so beautiful…

palm trees. The Jersey Shore is just a desert by comparison.

The palm we all know is the coconut palm, Cocos nucifera.

The fruit of this palm, the coconut, provides coconut and coconut water (a hot trend in the healthy-consumption world).

Plus, the beaches! Coconut seeds are surrounded by a light husk that floats, allowing the fruit to float from island to island to populate beaches. One reason, other than man, it is so common.

Its relative, Lodoicea maldivica, is the coco de mer, or “double coconut.” It is reputed to be the largest seed amongst all plants.

Other palms are also important. Phoenix dactylifera is the date palm, and dates are good! My friend and restaurateur Demitri stuffs dates with cheese and almonds, and wraps them in bacon…yummy!

The genus Copernicia provides carnauba wax, very important for protecting your car or boat.

Calamus is the source of rattan cane, used for furniture.

Then there are scores of palms that are used for ornamental purposes, and there are too many to list. Royal palms, areca palms, palmetto, bottle palms…are used to provide a tropical feel to your summer garden. Large ones may be hard to overwinter indoors (unless you have a large sun room), but for the price, and a feeling of tropical breezes and rustling leaves while you are grilling your summer steaks, palms are the way to go. Many large garden centers sell them; Metropolitan Plant Exchange often has a great selection of medium to large plants, perfect for the summer deck.

Due to their slow growth,

Editor’s Note: Bob LaHoff is co-owner of Hall’s Garden Center and Florist in Union County, a member of the Union County Board of Agriculture, the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association, Reeves-Reed Arboretum Buildings and Grounds Committee, a lifetime member of the Conifer Society and past member of the retail council for Monrovia Growers. He can be reached at (908) 665-0331.

palms are very valuable to tropical beach resorts, so much so that garden staff will do anything to preserve them. A few years ago, while vacationing in Mexico, I was witness to an offshore storm that over the period of a few days completely eroded the beach. When it reached the stand of coconut palms, the palms began to fall, and the garden staff quickly tied ropes to the trees, put in an anchor, and waited out the storm.

The palms were out floating in the surf, and once all was calm the staff pulled them in, put them back in the ground, and removed the damaged leaves. Being monocots, the palms quickly produced new adventitious roots. I saw them the next year…fully recovered.

Now try that with a big old oak!

Editor’s Note: Steve Schuckman is owner of First Mountain Aboriculture, which provides horticultural consulting and community forestry services.

He is currently the consulting forester for Bloomfield, Hawthorne, Maplewood, and Montclair, in New Jersey. He is also a New Jersey Certified Tree Expert. He can be reached at smschuckman@verizon.net

GardenerNews.com

May, 2017 21

Unwanted Webs: Integrated Pest Management for Fall Webworms

By William A. Kolbe B.C.E. “It looks like a gang of hyperactive spiders have set up a commune in my pecan/pear/cottonwood tree. There are webs everywhere! How do I get rid of them?”

More curious tree owners who inspect these webs will find that they do not contain spiders but rather masses of hairy caterpillars that twitch in synchrony when disturbed.

They are the larvae of the moth Hyphantria cunea, better known as the fall webworm, and a new guide to managing them is now available in the open-access Journal of Integrated Pest Management.

The good news is that, despite their voracious appetite for leaves, these caterpillars do not seem to cause significant harm to otherwise healthy trees. So, fear not for your landscaping.

But fall webworm nests are unsightly and many

property owners are anxious to eliminate them.

The fall webworm is a “remarkable species.” The moth ranges from southern Canada, throughout the U.S., and into northern Mexico.Along with its broad geographic range, the fall webworm has an “equally wide breadth of plant hosts, indicating an extremely flexible physiological range of tolerance to… host chemistry.” There are two color races of fall webworms which co-occur throughout its range in varying frequencies.

The race with pure white moths and black-headed caterpillars is more common in the northern portion of the range, while in the southern portion, moths with spotted wings and red-headed caterpillars predominate.

The species is native to North America and typically doesn’t cause problems in forests because native predators, parasites, and pathogens keep populations in check. Fall webworm

infestations can reduce productivity in commercial orchards but are rarely a problem in well-managed orchards that are treated for other insect pests. The fall webworm is most frequently a problem for homeowners who find that their webs make ornamental trees less ornamental. Fall webworm eggs are laid on the underside of leaves.

Fall webworms will feed on virtually any hardwood tree, as well as some conifers. Female moths lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves. After hatching, caterpillars build a web that encloses them and the leaves that they are feeding on. They enlarge the web to engulf more leaves as they grow. Fall webworm webs typically enclose the ends of branches, as opposed to branch bases, like those of tent caterpillars. The webs help the caterpillars thermoregulate, and fall webworms like it hot.

Researchers have found that inside the web, temperatures may reach 50 degress

Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) and the caterpillars tolerate it just fine.

The simplest control method may be to rip open the web, exposing the caterpillars to their natural enemies like birds and wasps. Pruning off the webbed branches is also very effective, particularly if the infestation is caught before it gets too large.

However, some tree owners may not like the gaps in foliage that pruning may cause.

Microbial insecticides such as Bt are most cost effective. Both microbial and synthetic insecticides work best if applied when caterpillars and colonies are small.

But, if you’re willing to live with some webs, your trees can likely tolerate them as well.

Editor’s Note: William A. Kolbe, BCE is Director of Technical and Training for Viking® Pest Control based out of Warren, NJ . He is a Board Certified Entomologist and has a

Bachelor’s Degree in Entomology with a minor in Ecology from the University of Delaware.

Bill is a member of The Denville NJ Community Gardens.

His career in Professional Pest Control started in June 1974. He can be reached at 732-356-3100 or visit www.vikingpest.com Credit: T.D. Schowalter and D.R. Ring “Biology and Management of the Fall Webworm, Hyphantria cunea Lepidoptera:Erebidae) Note: “This article was originally published by Entomology Today.”

And is available at https://entomologytoday. org/2017/03/21/unwantedwebs-integrated-pestmanagement-for-fallwebworms/ “Richard Levine is editor and head writer of Entomology Today, the official blog of the Entomological Society of America.

Volcano Mulch and Alien Soils: New Jersey’s Silent Shrub and Shade Tree Killer

By Brian Bosenberg Spring is here!!!! As landscape architects, we look forward to spring, which begins white, brown and gray and ends with a celebration of every color imaginable.

Throughout the fall and winter, the office is busy designing and detailing landscape plans of every scale and style. Our clients and their landscape contractors are now ready to begin the construction of their new landscapes.

All the time and effort spent on the landscape plans can be undone quickly by two silent killers, too much mulch and alien soils. To the untrained eye, you may think this silent killer is benefiting your trees.

But excessive mulch and alien soils can ruin the best design and leave you wondering why your new plants are not growing properly.

We have been educating clients and landscape contractors for the past two decades, project by project, on the damage that can be caused by these two killers, with great success.

A small amount of project oversight and continued client follow-through can make or break a successful landscape.

Volcano mulching and alien soils are best described as excess soil or mulch around the tree trunks. While properly applied amounts of mulch can be very beneficial, improper or excessive mulch can slowly kill your trees and shrubs.

Alien soils can have the same effect. This can be caused by improper nursery cultivation around the tree trunks or excess soil being spread over the tree roots and against the trunk during construction.

The ubiquitous presence of volcano mulch has made it the “go-to” application style

by many well intentioned landscape maintenance crews throughout the country.

Before you or your maintenance contractor applies mulch this spring, you will most likely need to remove some mulch to make room for more.

Inspect your tree’s trunk and locate the trunk flare.

At the bottom of the trunk, there is a distinguishable root flair that should be exposed. A good example is to look in the woods; every woodland tree will have a root flare and the tree should not look like a telephone pole set into the ground.

Once the flare is located, remove the excess soil and mulch with small hand tools until the flare is exposed, taking care to not damage the tree bark when excavating.

On large mature trees, you may need to have an arborist perform a root collar excavation with an air spade instead of trying to do this work by hand.

Time to make the donuts! Mulch Donuts, that is. When mulching your trees, start six to eight inches off the trunk and spread mulch outward for a distance of 12 inches for every one inch of trunk caliper (diameter) at a maximum depth of two to three inches.

At no point should the mulch be in contact with the trunk of the tree.

Mulching up against the tree can create a perfect place for mice, insects and pathogens that could eventually lead to the early demise of the tree.

Mulch can be made from many natural and manmade products.

Preferred mulch products are double ground, shredded bark (3/8-inch size), pine needles and properly composted leaves.

A list of materials not to use as mulch are: fresh grass or wood product chips, fresh organic mulch, foul smelling mulch, peat moss, sawdust, pebbles, rock, cobblestones, brick,

pavement, plastic and ground up tires.

The practice of mulching definitely has a valuable place in the landscape. Mulch applied and maintained at the proper depth helps the soil retain soil moisture and prevents soil compaction.

It controls soil temperature, reduces weeds and keeps the lawnmowers and string trimmers at a safe distance, helping to mitigate tree trunk damage.

We encourage everyone to check their tree trunks, expose the trunk root flare and avoid volcano mulching.

Editor’s Note: Brian W. Bosenberg is a practicing landscape architect licensed in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine and Vermont, and a principal in the firm of Bosenberg & Company Landscape Architects, Far Hills, N.J. He can be reached at 908-234-0557, info@bwbosenberg.com or www.bwbosenberg.com

22 May, 2017

GardenerNews.com

Understanding New Jersey USDA Plant Hardiness Map If you live outside of New Jersey, your planting zones can be found at http://planthardiness.ars. usda.gov Other Factors Many other environmental factors, in addition to hardiness zones, contribute to the success or failure of plants. Wind, soil type, soil moisture, humidity, pollution, snow and winter

sunshine can greatly affect the survival of plants. The way plants are placed in the landscape, how they are planted, and their size and health might also influence their survival.

Light: To thrive, plants need to be planted where they will receive the proper amount of light. For example, plants that require partial shade that are at the limits of

(Continued from page 1) hardiness in your area might be injured by too much sun during the winter because it might cause rapid changes in the plant’s temperature.

Soil moisture: Plants have different requirements for soil moisture, and this might vary seasonally. Plants that might otherwise be hardy in your zone might be injured if soil moisture is

too low in late-autumn and they enter dormancy while suffering moisture stress.

Temperature: Plants grow best within a range of optimum temperatures, both cold and hot. That range may be wide for some varieties and species but narrow for others.

Duration of exposure to cold: Many plants that can survive a short period of exposure to cold may

not tolerate longer periods of cold weather.

Humidity: High relative humidity limits cold damage by reducing moisture loss from leaves, branches and buds. Cold injury can be more severe if the humidity is low, especially for evergreens.

Courtesy: United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service

Celebrating 90 years of May bloom the Essex County Presby Memorial Iris Gardens The Trustees of the Essex County Presby Memorial Iris Gardens invite the public to celebrate its 90th anniversary this May. Come enjoy this living art known as “the Rainbow on the Hill.”

“The Presby Memorial Iris Gardens again welcomes spring with its landmark display of blooms,” said Nancy Skjei-Lawes, Board President. “This year the Walther House living room will host an art exhibition showcasing works by contemporary American impressionist Lisa Palombo. It will be a beautiful display of her colorful artwork. In addition, in honor of the 90th anniversary, we return to offering lemonade and cookies on the front porch weekend afternoons during bloom season.”

“The Presby Memorial Iris Gardens is recognized internationally for its horticultural and historical significance. Our unique public-private partnership preserves and protects this New Jersey treasure. We look forward to sharing this wonder with iris enthusiasts from across the country and around the world. We invite the public to come out and enjoy the dazzling display of colors on the ‘Rainbow on the Hill’ and support the Citizens Committee’s work to maintain this valuable resource,” Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. said.

In addition to enjoying the iris bloom, visitors will be invited to peruse the Bloom Room gift shop which will be open with an exciting mix of affordable house, garden and iris-related items. Presby’s Iris Plant Sale will offer iris dug from its own gardens. A complete schedule of events is listed below.

The gardens were established in 1927 to honor Frank H. Presby, beloved Montclair resident. Mr. Presby was passionately involved in improving Montclair’s parks and recreation areas and was an early trustee of the Montclair Art Museum. An avid horticulturalist and founding member of the American Iris Society, Mr. Presby loved irises and so it was an iris garden chosen to memorialize his life.

From two 4-foot-wide beds, the garden grew to 25-plus beds of irises under the loving care of its volunteer curator, Barbara Walther, noted American landscape architect John Wister, the Garden Club of Montclair, the Township of Montclair and many dedicated members of the Montclair community and larger iris world. Today, we continue the tradition of stewardship with our partner, the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

The gardens contain nearly 14,000 irises, approximately 1,500 varieties, which produce over 100,000 blooms each May. It is the only public garden where the comprehensive planting of bearded iris evolution may be viewed. The continuum of iris, dating from the 1500s to today, delights the modernist as well as historic iris enthusiasts.

The Essex County Presby Memorial Iris Gardens is located at 474 Upper Mountain Avenue in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. During bloom season, admission is a suggested $8 donation to help fund garden costs. The Gardens are open daily from dawn until dusk.

ATTENTION N.J. HOMEOWNERS AND PROPERTY MANAGERS Do you have someone applying pesticides on your property? Ask for a copy of their NJDEP 3A or 3B Pesticide License.

Do you have someone applying fertilizer to your property? Ask for a copy of their Rutgers ProFACT Fertilizer Certification Certificate.

Do you have someone installing plants, mulch, a walkway, a patio or a deck, etc., on your property? Ask for a copy of their NJHIC Registration Number.

Do you have someone working on a lawn sprinkler system on your property? Ask for a copy of their NJDEP Irrigation Certification Certificate (Plumbing contractors as defined in N.J.S.A. 45:14C-2 are exempt from having to obtain certification).

When buying plant material, make sure your arboretum, charity group, garden center, garden club, landscape company, market, nursery, or public garden, has an NJDA Plant Dealer Certificate.

If you are having any work done on your property, ask for a Certificate of Insurance naming you as additionally insured..

ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE REQUIRED BY LAW AND ARE FOR YOUR PROTECTION. It’s easy to garden organically indoors 365 days a year with The Espoma Company’s new line of liquid indoor plant foods.

The liquid concentrates come in an 8 oz. bottle with a special cap that measures just the right amount of natural proteins and beneficial microbes to provide beautiful results without waste.

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May, 2017 23

Shopping Annuals and Perennials Online In order to serve local area customers better, Steve Barlow III, president and general manager of Barlow’s Garden Center and Nursery in Sea Girt, Monmouth County, New Jersey, added the ability for garden shoppers to order from his selection of flowers, garden-related products, and plants online, on the company’s website, and then deliverer them locally. Garden shoppers can also schedule a time to pick them up at his Sea Girt Avenue location, in a special holding area, just like you would pick up your groceries from the market.

Barlow also hopes that folks from the north will place their flower, garden-related products and plant orders on their way to their shore houses, so they can conveniently pick them up without wasting precious beach time. “Since we are located off Exit 98 of the Garden State Parkway, Barlow’s has evolved and responded to our customer’s demand of quality flower and nursery products,” said Steve Barlow. “I am continuing to improve our online capabilities and expand Tom Castronovo/Photo our product offerings daily.”

Science Confirms - You Really Should Eat Your Brassica

By Sharon Durham Public Affairs Specialist U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have determined your Mom was right. You should eat your Brussel sprouts, kale, cabbage and 27 additional varieties of Brassica microgreens.

That declaration comes following the identification of phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals in all members of the Brassica family that are important to our health.

Yaguang (Sunny) Luo, a food technologist at the Food Quality Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, led a team of scientists that conducted the mineral analyses of the Brassica microgreen varieties. Eton Codling, a research agronomist at the Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory, also in Beltsville, and Zhenlei Xiao, a postdoctoral researcher, collaborated with Luo. Both laboratories are part of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Microgreens are the young seedlings of vegetables and herbs. They are harvested with the seed’s original leaves intact, very soon after these first true leaves emerge.

The Brassica microgreens analyzed in this study included arugula, broccoli, kale, radish, red cabbage and wasabi.

Essential minerals are a class of nutrients important for human health that are obtained from dietary sources.

There are two groups of these essential minerals: microelements (also known as “trace elements,” such as iron, zinc, copper and manganese) and macroelements (such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium).

These elements play crucial roles in various biological processes for both plants and animals. In humans, deficiencies can cause metabolic disorders and organ damage leading to diseases and even death.

Luo and her research team found that mineral concentrations in microgreens varied by species and variety. The most abundant macroelement found in the microgreen samples was potassium, followed by phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and sodium.

Potassium values were highest in wasabi microgreens and lowest in daikon radish microgreens. Savoy cabbage microgreens had the highest calcium levels.

Microgreens are an emerging class of specialty fresh produce which have gained popularity with chefs and consumers, and positively impact diets, according to Luo. Editor’s Note: Sharon Durham works for the USDA Agricultural Research Service. She can be reached at 301-504-1651 or by emailing Sharon.Durham@ars.usda.gov Read more about this research in the April 2017 issue of AgResearch.

24 May, 2017

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Early Registration Nearly Double Year-To-Date as IGC Show 2017 Gears Up to Strong Start &+,&$*2 ,/ Ę&#x160; $V HFRQRPLF UHSRUWV FRQWLQXH WR SRLQW WR VRDULQJ FRQVXPHU FRQILGHQFH IGC retailers are readying their stores for a strong peak selling season. Many have already registered to attend the Independent Garden Center Show this August, and show organizers report a significant increase in early registration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now just over two months since we opened registration, we are looking at show registration numbers that are nearly double last year, and well over a twofold increase in registration for the IGC Retailer Educational Conference,â&#x20AC;? Jeff Morey, IGC Show Co-founder, reports. He says he is even more pleased to see that 64% of those registering to-date are new registrants who did not attend the show last year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge number of new show-goers for IGC,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always great to see new faces each summer. We are adding a lot of retail resources and new features this year, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m confident our new friends will be pleased to be there for all of it.â&#x20AC;? IGC Show runs from August 15-17 at Navy Pier, Chicago, on the sparkling summertime waters of Lake Michigan.

The Premier Gardening Monthly Newspaper Number 169 Published Monthly Reserve Ad Space Phone: 908.604.4444 Website: www.GardenerNews.com E-Mail: Mail@GardenerNews.com Staff Executive Editor/ Publisher . . . .

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Todd Pretz Nelson Lee Bob LaHoff Peter Melick Richard Perkins

Contributing Writers Bruce Crawford Brian Bosenberg Hubert Ling Sharon Durham

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TIP OF THE MONTH The most attractive flower borders are those which are located in front of a suitable background such as a block wall, a building, a fence, or shrubbery. Establish plants in groups large enough to form masses of color or texture. As a rule, five to seven plants will create the desired effect. The most logical way to choose plants is first by location (light and soil moisture), second by period of bloom, then by height and width, and finally by color. Red, orange, and yellow are warm colors. Blue, green, and violet are cool colors.

26 May, 2017

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